Dempsey's Digest

Well, it’s here, the end of a long term full of learning, challenges, joys, excitement, some difficult days, insights, understanding, curiosity and fun. It’s definitely time for a break for our students, families and staff and we look forward to a time of rest, relaxation and for some, adventure! 

I want to thank our families for partnering with us, understanding that sometimes that is challenging. There are behaviours to overcome, learning to ignite, family routines to organise, teenagers to navigate, little ones to juggle… it can all feel overwhelming at times. I want to encourage you to keep working with us by communicating in a timely manner of things that concern you or worry you. We might not always have the solutions, but we are certainly committed to trying. 

Farewell to Gerry! 

The end of this term also brings us some sadness, as we say farewell to a long term and faithful servant of the school community, Dr Gerry Beimers. Gerry has served diligently for about 17 years and before that, was serving on our school board. When you ask Gerry about the highlights of that time, he is definitely drawn to sharing about the big projects and creative initiatives. The opening of the Kindergarten, opening of Ranges TEC, and new classrooms were definitely among the highlights as well as community engagement opportunities and indigenous awareness of the plight of our First Nations people. 

Gerry is a legend to us here at MECS and someone who always puts God first, in all things. His delight in God’s gifts, creativity in helping us navigate biblical truths, sense of justice and seeker of truth all combine to him being someone who we will very much miss. Gerry, as a community we wish you well in your next chapter. 

New Business Manager

The board has been busy interviewing for a new Business Manager. This should be finalised by the beginning of next term. In the interim, we have welcomed an experienced Business Manager, Mr Bryan Lewis to the team as a Consultant Business Manager for us. 

Primary Leadership News

Many of you would be aware that Janet Anderson had the past term off, to support her daughter, Phoebe, through treatment for cancer. We are so thankful to the Lord to note that Phoebe has a clean bill of health following her treatment and that Janet will be returning to us next term. Malcolm Pirie capably lead our Primary team over the past term and we are so grateful to him for his leadership. Malcolm now returns to a Deputy Assistant Principal role.

Visit from a Canadian

Our executive and teaching and learning teams were treated to a visit from Gayle Monsma, Executive Director of the Prairie Centre for Christian Education, last week. The team had the chance to hear of initiatives and challenges in Christian schools across Canada and to also glean ideas and insights for our task as educators here at MECS. I was personally excited as to the levels of engagement and deep conversations that were held. We have a very dynamic team who are currently preparing an audit of our curriculum areas and development of a revised framework to guide our teachers in their preparation and design of learning tasks. 

Indonesian Commissioning 

It’s not long now, before our Indonesian students in Years 9 & 10 head off on their cultural tour in Indonesia. This is a very exciting opportunity for our students and the accompanying staff who will go with them (those staff include Daniel Bradbury, Duc Tran, Sue de Pyle and Lo-Arna Riches). The team have now been commissioned and committed to prayer, but we ask you as a community to uphold them on their travels. These experiences are the best way to engage with culture and to be immersed in language. It’s my prayer that they will not only experience this culture first hand, but that they would also experience Jesus through each other and the wonderful people they will meet and interact with. Have the best time, students and staff! 

International Transforming Education Conference (ITEC)

Every four years (5 this year, thanks to Covid..) Christian Education National (CEN) hosts an international conference in a capital city. This year, that conference will be held in Perth, at the Convention Centre from 15 July. We are delighted to be taking 37 staff and 3 board members to this event which will include over 1000 people who have a passion for Christian education. It’s such a wonderful way to encourage each other in what it means to teach Christianly in a culture that is fairly resistant to the good news and a little suspicious of what Christian schools might be up to. The theme of the conference is Nova Diem – A New Day. Please pray for the staff that attend, that they may be filled to the brim with new ideas and an affirmation of their calling as Christian educators and those that serve Christian education. You can check out the ITEC website for more details. https://itec.org.au/